The Kingfisher High School girls track and field team failed to win a gold medal at last weekend's Class 4A state meet.
However, it was a successful two days at Catoosa High School with two school records and several personal best performances.
KHS scored in six of the seven events it qualified for, earning 41 points and placing eighth in the team standings.
In fact, the Lady Jackets not only scored in these events, they won medals in each of them. This means a top 6 finish or higher.
In addition, Kingfisher set at least a personal record (PR) in every individual event and relay in the state.
“Everyone put in a PR, and that's how you want to end the year,” head coach Kelly Rafferty said.
“I couldn't ask for anything more.”
Kingfisher cruised through the competition on Friday with a record-breaking performance that earned him a medal.
At last Monday's district meet, the quartet of Kinley Taylor, Matti Srezicki, Lily Lunsford and Scout Snodgrass broke a 22-year-old school record in the 3,200-meter relay.
Their time was 9:54.25, bettering their previous time of 9:57.10.
That record lasted for four days.
The same group ran a time of 9:48.17 at state, placing second behind Pauls Valley.
In less than a week, the quartet beat the previous school record by nearly nine seconds.
Three of them were not completed.
In the final race of the meet late Saturday afternoon, Abby Myers joined Taylor, Srejcki and Snodgrass in the 1,600-meter relay.
At the district meet, he missed the school record by just 0.04 seconds.
They did not disappoint this time either.
Snodgrass burned out on his last leg, moving up two spots in the field and crossing the finish line at the 4:04.41 mark.
This broke the 48-year-old record of 4:06.6, set in 1976 by Kim Hurren (maiden name), Robin Blair, Carla Cowell and Susan Muggenborg.
In response to a post about the new record on the Times & Free Press Facebook page, Susan (Mugenborg) Donnelly wrote about the former record holder's post in the May 13, 1976 issue of the Kingfisher Times. I posted a photo.
“Congratulations to all the 1976 record holders!” she wrote.
In another reply, Carla (Cowell) Gill wrote: 48 years ago. can't believe it! โ
Lafferty said both of these school records had been in her relay team's sights since the beginning of this season.
“We set a goal to break both of those records,” Rafferty said.
“We knew we had the talent to achieve it and we were finally able to do it. We are so proud of the girls and the effort they put in. โ
Between these two races, Kingfisher made his way to the medal stand numerous times.
Two of them were by Snodgrass.
The sophomore had a busy Saturday, running both the 800-meter and 400-meter finals before the anchor leg of the mile relay.
She finished both races in fourth place.
Snodgrass ran the 800 in 2:18.21. That was nearly two seconds faster than when he ran Monday and won the regional championship.
Next, in the 400 meters, she recorded a score of 58.72, nearly half a second faster than her time at the regional meet.
After more than 400 rounds, Snodgrass said he was “not feeling well” that day. โFor some reason, I feel exhausted today,โ she said.
Her time didn't show that. Even though Snodgrass felt that “she was exhausted,” she ran her leg of the mile relay in 58.55 seconds.
She received the baton in seventh place, moving up two places and nearly passing Tuttle in fourth place.
โThe scouting was phenomenal,โ Lafferty said. “She showed a lot of determination and heart on both days. I'm so proud of her.”
KHS also won medals in both hurdle events.
Myers was fifth in the 300 hurdles with a time of 47.98 seconds.
This time was nearly two seconds faster than her season's best time coming into the regional meet.
She lowered that PR to 48.44 points at the Moore regional meet, and then shaved nearly half a second off her PR at the state meet.
Thaler Mecklenburg did much the same in the 100-meter hurdles.
The junior's season best time was 17.28 seconds heading into the postseason.
Mecklenburg scored a 16.95 point in Friday's preliminary round, qualifying for the final as the No. 7 seed.
In Saturday's final, Mecklenburg further improved his PR time, scoring 16.75 points and placing sixth overall.
Douglas won the state title with 76 points, five points ahead of runner-up Pauls Valley.
Weatherford was third with a 70.
All athletes who earned points at KHS will return next season.
โWe set school records and had a lot of PRs,โ Rafferty said. “The girls worked hard and it paid off. As coaches, that's what we love to see.”